Personal Injustice at MEPS

I was supposed to ship out to Basic Training today. A physician looked us over, and noticed that I had a plantar's wart on my left foot. While we had one of those individual conferences about my medical history, he said I should go to the back of the line and wait til he could check with the guy who oversees all of Milwaukee MEPS medical records. I did so, and when it was my turn again he and the "overseer" (I don't know his title) told me about what was to happen.

I wasn't able to ship out today. I asked why, because this isn't a big deal to me. The overseer said after marching in boots, my foot would hurt horribly, as if a marble were stuck inside my boot. I said I could put up with the pain, and to send me anyways...he then told me that I could get cellulitus, where an infection seeps into your foot and spreads up your leg. You develop a fever of "102". He told me that if I got sick in Basic Training, the people there would dishonorably discharge me THAT same day, and I wouldn't be able to join the military again or work at most civilian jobs. The physician agreed, and told me further "I don't want to do this to you, but if you got sick it would ruin your future, getting jobs and such." I said I was willing to risk it, but they wouldn't allow me to ship.

During my full physical, a few weeks beforehand, a different physician checked the wart and said to just get it fixed sometime. He told me nothing about a wart being a disqualifier for Basic. This ticks me off because my first time at MEPS was before I dropped my college courses. I got through fine, and all I had to do was wait for my turn to be shipped out. The weekend after that first visit I dropped college, and was planning on going to Basic and AIT from today until the beginning of August. I was planning on going back to college next fall, in mid-August.

Now they've successfully wasted this semester of schooling, and I won't be able to go back next fall semester. I talked to my recruiter and he informed me that what they said was a "blatant lie".

Does anyone know of what I can do to fix this? I personally feel I should be put on a priority ship list, and be able to ship out any day I want now. I could sue these guys for wasting my time when I could have been earning 16 more college credits. The physician told me "It will take about 3 months to heal." I might as well have just gone back to college and waited for my ship date in the summer.

Any advice?

[Ram0528]

Originally Posted by scott91w

I personally feel I should be put on a priority ship list, and be able to ship out any day I want now. I could sue these guys for wasting my time when I could have been earning 16 more college credits.
Any advice?

I dont know anything about warts, but get it taken care of. 2nd, Grow UP, the i could sue these guys is BS....It sucks, talk to a regular doc & see what they say about treatment & healing time. Oh yeah, did i say GROW UP yet?

I totally agree!!! GROW UP!! That is what is wrong with these new recruits, always wanting an excuse to cry about something. Go to your private Dr., have him look at it and sign a formal letter that clears you and then have your recruiter request a medical waiver for you to ship. In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't already done so. But please, trying to sue Uncle Sam will not only not help your cause, but you will bring upon yourself a world of trouble I know you don't want. Again, get checked and request a medical waiver!!!!!


OUT!!!!

SUA SPONTE:goodluckn

[PFC Meg]

dishonorable discharge? wouldn't it be medical? that makes no sense. My friend Mike got held back because of the same thing, a wart. He got screwed shipping off to basic but know what, he eventually got to go. It screwed up his college plans but he's not suing. No biggie, don't worry.

[rchiruck]

They would have given you a medical discharge, or even go a step down and given you convalescent leave for 30 days (A guy in my cycle had a bad foot problem and he didn't want to quit, so they cut him slack and gave him convo leave for 30 days, where he would have to report back to reception after the 30 days if up and restart at week 9 or 12, or just do the FTX with a different cycle) Anyway, they only give dishornorable discharges (which are really like a chapter 13 or something in the regular army, aka: failure to adapt to military life) to the people who refuse to train and or can't do what they are supposed to.

Also, your feet are going to be suckin from foot marches anyway, just because you aren't used to doing that sort of thing while you're a civilian....and the Bellville boots suck for marching, great for wet weather though.

[USMCRET6391]

For those of you who dont know, a plantars wart is locarted directly on the ball of the foot (my oldest son had one removed when he was about 13). They are extremely painful because of the direct pressure placed on them every time you step and push with your foot. When he had his removed he wasnt allowed to put any pressure on his foot for 3 or 4 days and then he was on what amounted to "light duty" for about 2 weeks, no running etc. This is not something anyone woud want to go through during basic. I think you were given good advice the seond time, bad advice the first. Get it taken care of, the whole prcedure takes about 30 mins, take a month to get your foot back into shape then get your butt back to meps. I dont see any injustice here, only a Dr giving you his best medical opinion and damned sound advice.

[RFleischman]

If you want to be a 91W (medic) and eventually SF one of the first things you need to learn is one of the most important things a soldier needs to do is take care of his feet! So if the guys at MEPS say your feet aren't ready then your feet ARE NOT READY! I know it you want to ship, but suck it up soldier, your in the Army now!

You know what, the guys that said I should grow up about this are right. I shouldn't point out when someone in authority messes with people. I think I should just let anyone in command screw with my time. I mean, they have no power to give me orders, but I should do whatever they say, right? Because people at MEPS are always right, right? I'm sure the MEPS physicians are foot and ankle experts!

This is what's wrong with the situation: they said I'd be dishonorably discharged.

Anyway, I'm done griping about it.

[USMCRET6391]

Originally Posted by scott91w

I wasn't able to ship out today. I asked why, because this isn't a big deal to me. The overseer said after marching in boots, my foot would hurt horribly, as if a marble were stuck inside my boot. I said I could put up with the pain, and to send me anyways...he then told me that I could get cellulitus, where an infection seeps into your foot and spreads up your leg. You develop a fever of "102". He told me that if I got sick in Basic Training, the people there would dishonorably discharge me THAT same day, and I wouldn't be able to join the military again or work at most civilian jobs. The physician agreed, and told me further "I don't want to do this to you, but if you got sick it would ruin your future, getting jobs and such." I said I was willing to risk it, but they wouldn't allow me to ship.

The above statement is the problem scott. Virtually anyone who has been in the military knows that this whole paragraph is a distortion of what you were told. No one is dishonorably discharged from the Military for getting sick during Basic Training and no one in any position of authority would tell you that you could be. The distortions here make the whole thing sound like a whine, hence the "grow up" comments.

I don't see why you'd assume I'm exaggerating. They told me that, which is why I'm coming here about it. If it was just because I had to get a wart removed I wouldn't be here talking about it.

Some new things have happened now...

My recruiter got in contact with the Guard folks at MEPS, and the Sergeant there sent a letter to my recruiter's boss saying a few things which are entirely untrue, and could possibly get my recruiter fired.

He said he told me to get the wart removed before Basic training, which is a lie. He wrote in the letter "I specifically remember telling Scott to get it removed" when we never once discussed it. I talked to the physician about it and he specifically said "sometime".

The problem with the letter he sent was that he also brought up something about my hand which was previously broken. When I went down there January 13th, I didn't have any medical records. I talked to them and they said I needed records, so I called my recruiter and he picked some up and faxed them to MEPS. In the letter though, the Sergeant told my recruiter's boss something to the effect of, "Scott informed me that he was told by his recruiter to withhold any medical information which he didn't have records of." First of all, I'm not stupid enough to say that. My recruiter was very helpful and I'd never screw him over by saying such a thing, especially when it wasn't true.

Why is this National Guard Sergeant at MEPS covering for his coworkers? If I made up the part about the physician and medical NCO saying I'd get a dishonorable discharge for being sick in Basic, then why does this Sergeant feel the need to bring up his fabricated story about my recruiter telling me to lie?

Anyway, just bringing light to the situation. I'm not going to seek any kind of justice. I'm going to get this thing cut out of my foot and healed up.

Hope someone gets something out of my story here.

-Scott

[USMCRET6391]

This is really beginning to sound like a troll.........I will bow out now

[USAFDefender]

Scott, you got a good heart for doing what you want to do. However, you are only bitching. You're pointing fingers and not focusing on what you need to do to get your ass in boot. The US Military's motto is "Hurry up and wait." If little things like this get your panties in a bunch, I would kiss SF good bye. No one here gives a shit about who lied or who said what. You asked for advice and you got it. Get the wart taken care of, get it seen by a private doctor, and talk to your recruiter about getting a medical waiver. Take that advice and run with it.

"You're pointing fingers and not focusing on what you need to do to get your ass in boot."

I am focused on that. I said, "I'm not going to seek any kind of justice. I'm going to get this thing cut out of my foot and healed up."

"The US Military's motto is "Hurry up and wait." "

Yes, I know. I'm not complaining that I have to wait. Didn't you read what I wrote?

"If little things like this get your panties in a bunch, I would kiss SF good bye."

Maybe you would. I really don't think I'm just whining about nothing, though. If something wrong happens in the world, a sane and responsible person should try to fix it. In this case, I sought out advice on what to do in a military forum, where I thought people would have had similar experiences...seeing as how many people come here. I got advice - get healed up and don't sue. Good advice. What I say here is most definitely NOT an indicator of how well I handle under physical or mental pressure. It has nothing to do with SF, or have anything to do with being a crybaby...AT ALL.

"No one here gives a shit about who lied or who said what."

Do I care what people here give a shit about? No. Do you really speak for everyone here? Nope.

Like I said, I came for a second opinion on what I should do. I got a few second opinions - basically, shut the hell up...which I don't accept as a decent opinion. The people who said I should just get it healed were right, and I thank them for their input...but what I was looking for was really how to handle the situation legally. I got the advice that I shouldn't mess with sueing them ("uncle sam"). I guess that's good advice, but it's really an uninformed opinion.

I was really looking for ANYONE who dealt with legal Army issues in the past. I figured there would be someone here...but pretty much what I've found here are people that whine about people that whine.

-Scott